Stages of Love
by Sintari
Summary: A set of drabbles written in response to the Stages of Love LJ community challenge. All chapters will be 100 word drabbles on five escalating themes Attraction, Romance, Passion, Intimacy and Committment. NejiHinata of course!
1. Destiny

_This set of drabbles is in response to the challenge presented in the StagesOfLove Livejournal Community. The challenge is to write a minimum of five 100 word drabbles following one pairing through the 5 stages of love 1.) Attraction 2.) Romance 3.) Passion 4.) Intimacy and 5.) Commitment. I thought I would just drop them all here as I write them. _

_I've really been interested in drabbles lately – it is a lot harder than it might seem to create a coherent story with a theme and a hook in 100 words! A LOT harder. _

_**Title: Destiny**_

_**Author: Sintari**_

_**Fandom: Naruto**_

_**Pairing: Neji/Hinata**_

_**Challenge 1 Attraction**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't Naruto.**_

It is the oldest cliché in the world. Like something in one of the fiction books his eyes skim over when searching for forgotten volumes of military history in the Clan library.

If he admits it, gossipy old aunties will wax poetic about how it is "meant to be." Or worse, that he was "born" to love her.

If there is one thing he knows for sure, it is that destiny does not exist. Uzumaki Naruto literally beat that knowledge into him.

He knows destiny does not exist. But sometimes, when he looks at her, he wishes that it did.

_TBC_


	2. Love and Sharp Edges

_**Title: Love and Sharp Edges**_

_**Author: Sintari**_

_**Fandom: Naruto**_

_**Pairing: Neji/Hina**_

_**Written for the Stages of Love LJ Community, Challenge #2 Romance**_

On Hinata's fifteenth birthday, Neji casually handed her a ceramic pot to hold her salves. Utilitarian and white, it replaced the one her father had forced her to break when he decided she spent too much time on her herbalism.

For her sixteenth birthday, Neji gave her five wax-paper packets of blinding powder, careful to slip them to her when Hanabi was at school, accompanied with tersely whispered instructions to keep them always within her reach.

Yes, there are more traditional gifts. But Neji would never bring her roses.

Because where they are from, love is already a sharp-edged thing.


	3. Here and Here

_Title: Here and Here_

_Author: Sintari_

_Challenge #3 – Passion_

When she was twelve and he was thirteen, he tried to kill her.

Gentle Fist, they call it. There is nothing gentle about it.

He closes his eyes and on his own body fingers the places he struck her – her arms, the curve of her hip, her face. He touched her here, and here, and here...

But she's not here.

She's across the river, with Naruto, her avenger. One word, one seal and he could watch her. He doesn't.

When she was twelve and he was thirteen he tried to kill her. She is the only woman he'll ever love.


	4. Naked

**_Warning! This contains tiny spoilers for my ongoing multi-chapter fic, Rosemary for Remembrance! Don't read unless you want to be minutely spoiled!_**

_Title: Naked_

_Author: Sintari_

_Fandom/Pairing: Naruto Neji/Hinata_

_Challenge: #4 Intimacy_

Neji sat as still as if the eighth bird had just landed on his outstretched finger. She untied the knot of his hitai-ate and set it on the bed behind them as gently as if it were made of glass.

He couldn't have felt more exposed if he had been naked in front of her. He stifled the impulse to grab her arm. Instead, he remained motionless, watching the near imperceptible movement of her wrist as the tip of one finger traced each fork of the hated symbol.

If it hadn't been branded into his forehead before, it was now.


	5. Freedom

_**Title: Freedom**_

_**Author: Sintari**_

_**Fandom/Paring: Naruto, Neji/Hinata**_

**_Challenge: #5 Commitment_**

Neji chooses a wedding gift today.

Lingering over the peddler's stall, he refuses to consider the dried cuttlefish, a traditional charm to encourage procreation. He also runs a long linen thread – meant to symbolize the gray hair of old age – between his thumb and forefinger before tossing it back with its fellows.

His finally settles on a rice paper fan – a symbol of future wealth.

When the ceremony is over, she will no longer be head of Hyuga and he will no longer be sworn to her.

So maybe there was one cage he never wished to be free of.

END

_Thank you so much for reading the Stages of Love Drabbles! I only hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them! I encourage everyone to try their hand at drabbles – they appear so simple, but really it can be quite nerve-wracking to convey an idea in just 100 words. It's a good challenge for all you writers! _


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